


Excitement

by divagonzo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas 1998 fic, F/M, Gen, Giving where not expected, celebrating Christmas with your best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 02:57:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5522855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divagonzo/pseuds/divagonzo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One-shot. Complete. It's Christmas morning at Grimmauld Place and Harry's been a rather sweet man, giving more of himself than ever expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Excitement

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to all of my readers, near and far. _-DG_

“Master is most kind to Kreacher,” a voice croaked in the darkened bedroom.

Harry sat up in the bed instantly with his wand in his hand, pointing it at the voice at the door. 

“Kreacher didn’t deserve a Christmas present.” 

Harry fumbled for his glasses on the sidetable, trying desperately to not wake Ginny but hearing her groan anyway. He shoved the spectacles on his face and saw Kreacher bowing his head. 

“If Kreacher is wrong, he will accept being cursed. Kreacher has been cursed before.” 

Harry dropped his wand instantly in shame and fumbled out of the bed. He knelt down at the wizened elf. 

“Kreacher is deserving of Christmas gifts, especially from me. You are a good Elf and I felt you should have a gift or two. Friends give gifts to others.” 

“Two gifts, Master Harry?” 

“Yes. There are two items in that box for you. I took care to pick one and Mistress Ginny picked out the other.” 

“And if you don’t like it, I’ll get you something else.” Ginny sat up in the bed, moving the unkempt hair out of her face. “I wanted to get you something that you could use.” She leaned over the side of the bed and felt for her dressing robe. 

“Kreacher, open your gifts.” 

“Kreacher can’t. Kreacher has never received a Christmas gift before.” 

Ginny stepped over to the small elf and kissed him on his bald head. “Put some trousers on, Harry, while I talk with Kreacher.” Harry chuckled but did what was asked. 

“You’ve been terrific, helping take care of Harry while I’ve been away at school. You deserve a gift from me, and Harry too. So please, open it.” 

Kreacher lifted the lid on the small box and stood gobsmacked. “Kreacher cannot accept such things.” 

“You’ve been a free elf for months. We wanted you to look dapper.” Kreacher lifted the shrunken silk necktie and trousers from the box. “Consider it livery, and not a teacozy.” 

“But Kreacher cannot accept such generous gifts.” 

“Nonsense, Kreacher. If I’m dressing Harry,” Ginny smiled, “then I’m going to have you look dashing too.” 

Harry came back to the sniffing elf. “A proper free elf has to dress the part.” Harry kissed Ginny on the cheek. “Now, open my gift.” 

Kreacher put the box down on the ground at his feet and lifted the silken sack from the box. “Master, Kreacher is content with one gift of livery.” 

“Nonsense. I thought you’d earned it. And so did others.” 

He opened the brown velvet sack and massive drops of water fell onto the floor. “Kreacher is unworthy.” 

“If you’ve not realized it yet, we think you are.” 

Kreacher pulled the silver medallion out of the sack and held it up. He looked at the other two and they were fighting back their emotions too. “I insisted with Kingsley that you were there and your efforts helped turn the battle. You and the others decimated their forces and gave us a fighting chance. You deserve that recognition. I made sure of it.” 

Harry released the clasp on the back of the ribbon and laid it over the elf’s head. The medallion rested on top of the locket that Kreacher never took off. 

“Go on, read it.” 

“ _Kreacher, a house elf, who lead the charge of the Hogwarts Elves in the Battle of Hogwarts, 2 May 1998. Order of Merlin third class. KS, minister._ ” 

“Kreacher cannot wear this. This is too much.” 

“Yes, you can. It’s part of your livery, if you choose. But we’d appreciate it if you do.” Ginny leaned over and hugged Kreacher. “Merry Christmas, Kreacher.” 

Kreacher wiped his face and looked at the couple before him. “Kreacher has gifts for Master Harry and Mistress Ginny, too.” He snapped his fingers and a bevy of packages appeared behind them. “Kreacher has also given Master Ron and Mistress Hermione their gifts too. But there are more downstairs under the tree in the parlour.” 

“Have you eaten today, Kreacher.” 

“Kreacher hasn’t made breakfast yet, Master Harry.” 

“Join us when you do.” 

“Yes, Master Harry.” The elf winked out with his gifts. 

“You’re adorable, you know that.” Ginny leaned over and kissed her lover on the cheek. “Mum’s gonna go spare when she finds out we gave Kreacher clothes to wear and his Order of Merlin award. She’s a sop for those stories.” 

“Speaking of gifts, I have a special one for you, too.” 

“If you have me an engagement right now, I’m going to hex you into next year.” 

Harry held his hands up in protest. “No, but only because you told me such. I promised to wait a few years, and I’ll stick by it.” 

“Alright then.” 

Harry pointed his wand at the stack in front of their bed, charming a small box to zoom into his hands. “Here. ‘Tis your gift.” 

Ginny tore the badly wrapped paper from her box and kept a side eye on Harry. The smile on his face was priceless, watching her reaction to her gift. “I wanted something special for you without being obnoxious.” 

She opened the lid on the green velvet box and saw the Quaffle earrings inside the box. “Harry, this is –“

“I promise I didn’t spend all the galleons in my vault to get it. I saw them at Quality Quidditch Supply and knew I should get this for you.” 

“But they are clip-ons.” 

Harry smiled. “I’ve looked at you long enough to remember that your ears aren’t pierced. They are charmed to change to such if you ever do.” 

Ginny slid them onto her ears, feeling the slight pressure on the lobes. “How do I look?” 

“Amazing,” He leaned in for a gentle kiss. 

“Harry!” The door banged open and Ron raced in, a huge package in his hands. Hermione was standing behind him, wearing a housecoat but frantically trying to cover her thin frame. Ginny saw her disheveled hair and knew what they had gotten up to last night or this morning. She smirked and saw Hermione shrug back. Ginny tried to bring the collar of her jumper higher and gave it up as a bad job. Hermione’s shrug turned into a grin and Ginny nodded quickly before turning her back to the guys scuffling on the floor. 

“You git,” Ron smacked him once upside Harry’s head. “You didn’t need to get me this.” 

“Nonsense, Ron. You need it for training.” 

“But I can get my own.” 

“And I got it for you. So shut it.” 

“Prat.” 

“Git!” 

Ron pulled Harry up from the ground and hugged him fiercely. “Come on. We’ve got a ton more downstairs for you to open.” 

“Ginny?” 

Ginny smiled. “Go on, both of you. Hermione and I will be down in a while. Go enjoy the presents Ron and the rest of the family got you.” 

The guys raced from the room, leaving their girlfriends standing in Harry’s bedroom. 

“Sorry about that. I couldn’t keep Ron in the room a minute longer. He was so excited to share Christmas with Harry.” 

“Because he missed the last one, right?” 

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t going to stop him this time. So, that’s why. Ron loves me and showed me but he loves Harry just as much.” 

“And you?” 

Hermione smiled bashfully. “This Christmas was better than last year, and so much more than the year before, because Ron was there with me this morning. Everything else is just pudding.” 

“I know. I feel the same way.” Ginny hid the myriad of feelings she was coping with this morning, after what happened the night before. Ginny put on her slippers and a jumper before they joined the guys downstairs, opening all their presents on Christmas morning. She’d think on them later, when her best girlfriend wasn’t standing there watching her. 

“Speaking of pudding,” Ginny went for the door, waiting on Hermione to follow, “I’m famished. Let’s get some breakfast and share Christmas with the men we love.”


End file.
